Take a look at our top five blog posts for the month to see which topics your fellow contact center professionals were most interested in—tips on how to hire the right service staff; insights on using customer analytics to unlock customer experience; managing dysfunction in the contact center; the impact of on-hold music on your brand; and why you need a statement of work when purchasing cloud solutions.
Quick Tip: How to Prevent Hiring Failures
I often ask leaders of award-winning contact centers what they think is the key strength of their operation. They almost always point to their people. Many also stress that the “secret sauce” is hiring the right type of service staff—those who are enthusiastic, positive and who demonstrate a passion for helping customers. These companies typically adhere to a rigorous hiring process and the managers never settle for less than excellent.
Why Customer Analytics Are Key to Unlocking Customer Experience
In today’s highly competitive products and services marketplace, the customer’s experience with your business has never been more important. Knowing a customer’s name and understanding why he or she has contacted you in the first place can help to earn trust and loyalty through an unmatched customer experience. This can mean the difference between customers spending money with you or with your competitors.
When Dysfunction Strikes
When it happens, you know it. We’re not talking about the garden variety slump, or the occasional, inexplicably poor decision. Even the greatest organizations deal with these hiccups from time to time. We’re talking about the ruthless assault on logic, the mind-numbing levels of stress, and the complete absence of hope that can only be produced by dysfunction. It is an experience where every moment of every workday is like that split second when the dentist’s drill hits your nerve.
Face the Music… Call Yourself!
According to TheFreeDictionary.com, “face the music” means to “confront unpleasantness, especially the consequences of one’s errors.” The precise origin of this idiom has been lost. Most references believe it “refers to a theater’s pit orchestra which an actor must face when he faces what can be a hostile audience.” Well, the music I would like contact center leaders to face is their music on hold selections (announcements, messages, configurations, etc.).
Cloud-based Solutions Need a Good SOW
The cloud is a strong contender for contact center technology today, and the market hype makes it look as simple as buying a mobile phone app! While it may look “fast and easy” on the surface, centers of any size or complexity need to do more than just turn on some software licenses and hope for the best.
